Rare Chandeliers

Vice; 2012

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Action Bronson and the Alchemist are an obvious pairing. Both revive and tweak classic New York rap, and are expertly good at doing so. Some things just make sense, and this is one of those things -- or at least you'd think it would be. On paper, their collaborative mixtape Rare Chandeliers should have no trouble living up to its expectations, but in practice it reveals cracks in Bronson's highly tailored aesthetic.

Bronson's profile has ballooned this year thanks to Blue Chips, his March mixtape with producer Party Supplies. It's funny now to think that just a year ago, it seemed like Bronson would never be able to shake those Ghostface comparisons. But on Blue Chips he fleshed out his own character, one that acts like Tony Soprano, travels like James Bond, and eats like Frank Bruni. Bronson's world is a carefully constructed fantasy, but he has both the deep imagination and wicked humor required to make the persona as engrossing as it is singular. It is no surprise that in the past year, Bronson has found a kindred spirt in Riff Raff, rap's foremost ridiculous yet rewarding character.

Blue Chips was Bronson's breakout, but if there's one thing that Rare Chandeliers makes clear, it's that Party Supplies' production had a crucial hand in why that album was a clear step up. The Alchemist's beats on Rare Chandeliers are perfectly good, but they do little to amplify Bronson's character. Blue Chips was sourced using samples ripped straight from YouTube and the slapdash, madcap production almost imagined Bronson as the star of his own blaxploitation film, which is what the cover of Rare Chandeliers aims to evoke. It was also the perfect fit for a rapper who spits punchlines as they come -- the track "5 Minute Beats 1 Take Raps" served as the album's unofficial motto. In spirit (though not quite sound), the production was an outgrowth of the two's deliriously fun "Contemporary Man," a one-off song where Bronson freestyled over a succession of 80s pop hits.

Five-minute beats isn't the Alchemist's style, and the precision here too often zaps Bronson's character of its color, in turn sapping the music of fun. There has always been a nastiness to Bronson-- especially towards women-- and that unfortunately gets played up on Rare Chandeliers, an album that is both darker and more stately in tone. The Bronson here is one who lurks in shadows, alleys, and cigar lounges and possesses little of the awareness of others displayed on Blue Chips joints like "Hookers at the Point" or "Thug Love Story 2012". The line between jokester and asshole is a blurry one, and on a track like "Demolition Man", you get the sense that maybe Bronson is starting to believe his own illusion.

There are times, though, when the duo strike gold; unsurprisingly, it's when they loosen things up and play with structure. "Randy the Musical" flips through three beats in four minutes, all of which feel like they were played by a live band. "Eggs on the Third Floor" likewise switches halfway through into a mimed cypher, which is essentially the ideal setting for Bronson's style of rapping. That's not to say that every Bronson song needs to be pull the rug out from under itself after 90 seconds, but that he's at his best and when his beats pump him with energy. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen enough here.

Of course, there are also songs like "The Symbol" or "Modern Day Revelations", where the very simple formula of "great beat plus great rapping" spits out enjoyable results. Relying on that formula shouldn't be a problem in of itself, but that easy repetition can soon offer diminishing returns. It is the same path that made one Curren$y EP indistinguishable from the next.

Rare Chandeliers offered itself as genius meeting of minds, and the album's core quality speaks precisely to the level of talent involved. But there is more to Bronson as an artist than merely matching him up with a stylistically similar producer, and Rare Chandeliers makes that clear. It knocks, yes, but it's more instructive than anything.